Increased costs: More and more people are using up their reserves

According to a survey, more and more people are worried about their standard of living in view of the sharp rise in energy and food costs.

In the survey at the beginning of October on behalf of the credit agency Schufa, a good third of the approximately 1,000 respondents (35 percent) expected that their income would not be sufficient to continue to maintain the standard of living.

In the May survey, it was around a quarter (26 percent).

Half of consumers (50 percent) said they had saved money in the past six months.

That was 12 percentage points more than in spring.

According to the survey, however, in many cases there are no longer any savings.

According to their own assessment, only one fifth of German private households (20 percent) have enough money to cushion the rising cost of living.

A third (36 percent) fears that the existing reserves will not be sufficient.

pressure on poorer households

“People in lower income groups in particular are in trouble.

There were hardly any reserves there even before the crisis," explained Schufa board member Ole Schröder on Monday.

40 percent of households with an income of less than 2,000 euros stated that they had no reserves before the crisis.

According to their own statements, many people are now reducing their consumption.

Three quarters of those surveyed (74 percent) said they would spend less money when shopping, compared to just 63 percent in May.